New ballet of Boris Eifman "Rodin" is dedicated
to life and creative work of great sculptors Auguste Rodin and his apprentice,
lover and muse Camille Claudel.The story of their passionate relationship is
full of drama. For 15 years Rodin and Claudel had been one sensual and creative
body. But their breakup dealt a death blow to Camilleís mental health and marked
the beginning of her destruction. Almost forgotten, isolated from the outside
world, vegetating in misery, Claudel goes out of her mind. Her obsession about
the deliberate conspiracy against her, of which she considered Rodin the main
participant, has been a permanent torture for the womanís mind depressed by her
mental disease. For the whole of 30 years she had to spend her life in a mental
asylum, where Camille died in 1943, forgotten and left by everyone.

The "Rodin" ballet of Boris Eifman is a massive
artistic utterance about the tragic nature of life of geniuses. With the help of
unique body language of the modern psychological ballet, which the choreographer
had sharpened skillfully in his previous performances ("Onegin", "The Seagull",
"Anna Karenina", "Russian Hamlet" and others), Eifman not only presents a new
conception of the world of human passions studied masterfully by Rodin and
Claudel in their works, but also creates a masterpiece dedicated to the
incomprehensible mystery of the process of creation.

Boris Eifman:† "Life and love of Rodin
and Claudel is an amazing story of two artists, in an incredibly dramatic
alliance of which everything interlaced: passion, hatred, artistic jealousy.Spiritual and energetic interchange of two sculptors is a unique phenomenon:
living together with Rodin, Camille was not only inspiring him, helping to find
a new style and to create masterpieces, but also was going through the impetuous
development of her own talent, actually, she was transforming into a great
master.

After her breakup with Rodin, Claudel begins
to plunge into the darkness of insanity. The soul of a poor woman is burnt to
ashes with the pathological hatred to her former teacher and lover man, who had
stolen, in Camilleís opinion, her life and gift. Rodinís longing for his muse,
torments of his conscience and delusion of Camille, or the insane Erinye, which
her ruthless destiny had turned her to, the delusion caused by her mental
disease and full of sick obsessions Ė all of these are reflected in the new
ballet.

With the help of body language we talk in our
performance about passion, internal struggle, despair Ė about all of those life
phenomena of human spirit, which are brilliantly expressed by Rodin and Camille
in bronze and marble. To turn a moment frozen in stone into an irrepressible
sensuous stream of body movements is what I was striving for when creating this
new ballet performance.

"Rodin" is a contemplation about the
unreasonable price which geniuses have to pay for creation of eternal
masterpieces, and also about those torments and mysteries of creation process
which will always disturb minds of artists ".

SYNOPSIS

ACT ONE

A mental asylum, where patients wander like
somnambulists, is the last shelter for Camille Claudel, a lover of the great
Rodin. After a visit from the sculptor, she feels nothing but pain and despair.
In his memories, Rodin returns in his past...Sculptorís workshop. Here is
the place where Rodinís wild fantasies come to life through clay and bronze.
With her appearance, Camille, a young model, starts a fire in the heart of
Rodin, who is in his middle age.It is intolerable for Camille to wake up in
the mental asylum. However, her sufferings at the hands of the other female
patients, who beat and abuse her, are nothing compared to the horrible emptiness
that enlaced Camilleís soul.The life of old Rodin is full of grief. The
tenderness of his devoted Rose is heavier than iron bonds. The sculptor is
buried in his thoughts, where he finds himself an impetuous creator again.
Camille is by his side, with her passion and gift of genius that give him power.
Rodinís indifference makes Rose suffer.Camilleís coming insanity is already
near: her mind becomes bedimmed with an obsession. But still her life is an
endless vortex, in the very center of which is Rodin. Without hesitation, she
gives her genius to her beloved and her master. Envy of Camille as an artist
grows in the sculptorís soul.Rodin wins his success. Camille, his mate and
co-author of his works, is left behind as an unknown witness of anotherís
glory.

ACT TWO

The Gates of Hell are created in
sufferings. Camille works devotedly with Rodin. Rose follows Rodin constantly,
which makes him go through torment and repentance. Happy moments of his life
revive in his mind: young Rose, beautiful and lovely bacchante, whom Rodin meets
at a grape festival.Camilleís relationship with her master becomes a torture
for her. In a blaze of despair, she escapes from her beloved. A passing affair
with a random lover cannot heal her scars. She has no other choice than to
return to Rodin, who is her destiny and her curse.The sculptor is
embarrassed. His heart is torn between burning passion for one woman and sincere
affection for another one. How can he break this vicious circle of incessant
torments?Camille is coming closer and closer to the edge of the abyss. Her
work on Clotho, fearful anthem to ruthless Fate, exhausts her mental
state completely. Distressed by critics, Camille destroys her sculpture in a
blaze of rage.Camille suffers from nightmares. She sees Rodin as an ugly
beast who is guilty of all her tortures. The poor woman has no way to escape
from this insanity, which captures her mind and soul.